'Natural Born Killer' of 1995 Avon murder charged with murder of inmate

Monday

Aug 18, 2014 at 3:20 PMAug 19, 2014 at 11:13 AM

Staff Reporter

CLINTON – Michael Freeman, one of three men put behind prison bars after the “Natural Born Killers” slaying of a disabled war veteran in Avon in 1995, has killed again – this time while in state prison, authorities said. The 39-year-old Freeman, serving life without parole after his 1996 conviction for the murder of 65-year-old Philip Meskinis, is now charged in the murder of a 72-year-old inmate at the Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.Freeman is accused of fatally beating William Sires, who had been serving a life sentence in the state prison after being convicted of the 1973 murder of his mother in Pittsfield. A correction officer found Sires badly beaten in a cell at the state prison in Shirley about 2 p.m., last Tuesday. Sires was pronounced dead at 2:36 p.m. “The victim was almost unrecognizable,” Paul Jarvey, spokesman for Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr., said in recounting what prosecutor Tim Westerman said in court during Freeman’s arraignment in Clinton District Court on Monday. He is due back in court on Oct. 29. Jarvey said Freeman and two other inmates, 27-year-old Allan Erazo and 38-year-old Chad Connors, formerly of Avon, have also been charged in the murder of Sires. Erazo was arraigned last Friday in Clinton District Court, where Connors is also scheduled to be arraigned on Friday. Jarvey detailed a sadistic plan to murder Sires by Freeman, Erazo and Connors. Sires had been walking in a common area inside the state prison when Erazo came up behind him, grabbed him around the waist and pulled Sires into a cell, where Freeman and Connors were waiting for him, Jarvey said.Erazo and Connors then left the cell, the cell door was locked, and Freeman beat Sires to death, Jarvey said. Erazo, who was serving a two-year sentence after being convicted of stabbing a cab driver in Chelsea, had been scheduled to be released from prison next month. Connors had been serving a 7- to 12-year sentence after being convicted of carjacking and armed robbery in 2007. Freeman is now being held at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole, while Erazo is being held at MCI-Concord, a Department of Correction spokesman said. It was unclear Monday where Connors is being held. The 1995 murder of Philip Meskinis drew national attention after news reports surfaced that one of his attackers, wearing blood-spattered clothing, bragged to a girlfriend after his murder: “Haven’t you seen ‘Natural Born Killers’ before?”The 1994 movie portrays a murder spree. Authorities earlier said Freeman and his two accomplices watched it several times before the killing. Authorities arrested Freeman, formerly of Brockton, after an intensive manhunt that lasted for six days after the June 23, 1995 slaying of Meskinis. Also charged in the crime were Leonard Stanley, then 21, of Easton and Patrick Morse, then 19, of Middleboro. In 1999, Stanley, then 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Dedham Superior Court. A judge sentenced him to 16 to 20 years in prison, with no eligibility for parole until he has served 16 years. In 1997, Morse was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. Morse, who reportedly boasted to a friend about being a “natural born killer” after the slaying, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and other charges related to burglary and theft from the victim’s home. In 1996, a jury convicted Freeman, then 21, of first-degree murder in the death of Meskinis. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The three men broke into Meskinis’ Avon home on School Street during the early morning hours of June 23, 1995 to steal weapons and money. Freeman then crept into the victim’s bedroom and began stabbing him as he slept. Authorities said Freeman stabbed the victim 27 times, and demanded a second knife when the first one slipped out of his hands. Freeman was depicted by his lawyer as a disturbed young man suffering from several mental disorders. Freeman also claimed to have been raped by Meskinis, who had dated his mother. The charge was challenged by a friend of the victim, who testified that Freeman tried to proposition Meskinis in return for money and that an angry Meskinis threw him out.

Maria Papadopoulos may be reached at mpapa@enterprisenews.com or follow on Twitter @MariaP_ENT.

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